Is blood pressure control for stroke prevention the correct goal? The lost opportunity of preventing hypertension.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Although pharmacological treatment of hypertension has important health benefits, it does not capture the benefit of maintenance of ideal health through the prevention or delay of hypertension.

METHODS

A total of 26 875 black and white participants aged 45+ years were assessed and followed for incident stroke events. The association was assessed between incident stroke and: (1) systolic blood pressure (SBP)categorized as normal (<120 mm Hg), prehypertension (120-139 mm Hg), stage 1 hypertension (140-159 mm Hg), and stage 2 hypertension (160 mm Hg+), and (2) number of classes of antihypertensive medications, classified as none, 1, 2, or 3 or more.

RESULTS

During 6.3 years of follow-up, 823 stroke events occurred. Nearly half (46%) of the population were successfully treated (SBP<140 mm Hg) hypertensives. Within blood pressure strata, the risk of stroke increased with each additional class of required antihypertensive medication, with hazard ratio [HR], 1.33; 95% confidence interval, 1.16 to 1.52 for normotensive, HR, 1.15; 95% confidence interval, 1.05 to 1.26 for prehypertension, and HR, 1.22; 95% confidence interval, 1.06 to 1.39 for stage 1 hypertension. A successfully treated (SBP<120 mm Hg) hypertensive person on 3+ antihypertensive medication classes was at marginally higher stroke risk than a person with untreated stage 1 hypertension (HR, 2.48 versus HR=2.19; relative to those with SBP <120 on no antihypertensive medications).

CONCLUSIONS

Maintaining the normotensive status solely through pharmacological treatment has a profound impact, as nearly half of this general population cohort were treated to guideline (SBP<140 mm Hg) but failed to return to risk levels similar to normotensive individuals. Even with successful treatment, there is a substantial potential gain by prevention or delay of hypertension.